House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged opposition to a contempt recommendation for Bill and Hillary Clinton before the House Oversight panel ultimately voted to send the measures to the floor Wednesday, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the whipping efforts.
Nine Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure to hold Bill Clinton in contempt of Congress for defying a congressional subpoena over Jeffrey Epstein. Three Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure for Hillary Clinton.
A spokesperson for Jeffries pointed to earlier remarks from the minority leader, in which he suggested the Justice Department should instead be held in contempt for failing to hand over the Epstein documents by their December deadline.
The spokesperson declined to provide further comment.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) spoke with Democrats on the Oversight panel this morning at the behest of the minority leader, according to one of the two people.